Frequently in life, forces beyond my control throw off my plans (can you relate?). I don’t want to ignore or fail to process the hard things that happen to me—it’s important to grieve and bring those pains to the Lord. On the other hand, we sometimes dream of being some big success, then get stuck in a rut of blame when reality doesn’t turn out as we hope. What we choose to focus on grows bigger in our minds and in our lives, so we need to be careful not to focus on what is not up to us.
In his book The Great Divorce, CS Lewis imagines how Napoleon spends eternity in an enormous empty house, “walking up and down—up and down all the time—left-right, left-right—never stopping for a moment. The two chaps watched him for about a year and he never rested. And muttering to himself all the time. ‘It was Soult’s fault. It was Ney’s fault. It was Josephine’s fault. It was the fault of the Russians. It was the fault of the English.’ Like that all the time. Never stopped for a moment. A little, fat man and he looked kind of tired. But he didn’t seem able to stop it.”
Later, he explains: “it begins with a grumbling mood, and yourself still distinct from it: perhaps criticizing it. And yourself, in a dark hour, may will that mood, embrace it. Ye can repent and come out of it again. But there may come a day when you can do that no longer. Then there will be no you left to criticize the mood, nor even to enjoy it, but just the grumble itself going on forever like a machine.”
By contrast, Daniel from The Karate Kid is taught to diligently and faithfully serve in humble tasks with no glory (Luke 16:10). There’s no better example of this than Jesus (Philippians 2:3-11). Instead of dwelling on blame and regret, I want to be thankful for every breath, be content with what God gives me, and focus on being faithful with what IS my responsibility in the moment. Will you join me?
Grant Ministry 